The Stolen Heart

You can take my heart

You can take my heart and put it in a box

You can take my heart and put it in a box and lock it in a cage

But my heart will not be there

When you wake in the morning

The bars will be cut open and the box will be elsewhere

I will take nothing else

Not your chalices or candlesticks

I have no use for ornament, no need for burnished gold

I am gone to the old place

To the cave above the lake

I have pared back my ribs to make a new mansion

Lent has come to remind us

Of the need for human sacrifice

For too long, you have made a fool of my heart

I have taken back my heart

I have taken back my harm

You must fill up all your cabinets with other magic charms.

©  Helena Nolan

Dublin patron saint's heart stolen in cathedral raid
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Helena's work has appeared in anthologies and literary magazines including; The Stinging Fly, The Moth, and the Spoken Ink audio website. She is the 2011 winner of the Patrick Kavanagh Award.